Sainsbury’s has announced it is removing all products that are 100% sourced from Russia from its shelves.
From today (March 4) the supermarket will no longer sell Russian Standard vodka and Karpayskiye black sunflower seeds.
Morrisons and the Co-op have also removed Russian Standard vodka from their shelves.
It comes after dozens of big name businesses announced they were cutting ties with Russia following its invasion of Ukraine.
Some of the companies that are severing links include Wetherspoon, Apple, Ikea and Disney, while energy firms such as Shell, BP and British Gas are also ending contracts.
Sainsbury’s is also the first Big Four grocer to announce that it will change the names of its chicken kievs to chicken kyiv, in solidarity with Ukraine.
Supermarket shoppers had been calling on the major food suppliers in the UK to make the name change, in line with the traditional way Ukraine people pronounce the capital city Kyiv.
"Kyiv" is derived from the Ukrainian language name, with many media organisations now using this pronunciation ever since the Ukraine war broke out last week.
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A spokesperson from Sainsbury’s said: “We stand united with the people of Ukraine. We have reviewed our product range and have decided to remove from sale all products that are 100% sourced from Russia.
“This means that from today we will no longer sell two products – Russian Standard vodka and Karpayskiye black sunflower seeds.”
They added: “We are also re-naming ‘Chicken Kiev’ to ‘Chicken Kyiv’ and the new packaging will be available in the coming weeks.
“To support the humanitarian crisis, and as announced earlier this week, we are donating £2 million to our long-term partner Comic Relief.”
Sainsbury’s said it has also “reviewed” all JJ Whitley products which are currently made in Russia.
The supermarket confirmed it will continue to sell JJ Whitley after the drinks giant confirmed it was moving all its manufacturing to the UK.
The Mirror has contacted Tesco, Asda, and Morrisons, as well as Aldi and Lidl, to see if they are dropping any Russian products, or changing the name of their chicken kievs.
Waitrose and Marks and Spencer have responded to reports to say they have no plans to alter their kievs.
More than one million people have already fled Ukraine since the conflict began a week ago, while thousands of civilians are believed to have been killed.
Russian forces have so far taken control of Kherson in the south, the first major city to fall, while the capital Kyiv remains in government control.
As well as companies refusing to stock Russian products, Visa and MasterCard have both blocked a number of Russian financial institutions from their networks.
The move complies with US sanctions imposed on Russia following its invasion of Ukraine.
Visa and MasterCard together handle 90% of all debit and credit card payments outside of China.
